The first popularly elected leader in Russian history began his career
inauspiciously, serving in Sverdlovsk construction from 1955 until 1968.
Yeltsin began working full-time for the Communist Party in 1968, was
appointed secretary of Sverdlovsk in 1976, and received induction into the
Central Committee in 1981. He rose to the position of Moscow party chief
in 1985, and joined the Politburo in 1986. Dedicated to reform, Yeltsin's
sharp critique of conservatives and his claims that Mikhail Gorbachev's
perestroika policies were insufficient forced him to resign and assume the
trivial post of Deputy Minister for Construction.

His hard-hitting embrace of radical reform maintained populist support,
and voters secured Yeltsin on a seat in the Soviet parliament (the
Congress of U.S.S.R. People's Deputies) in 1989. He won a 1990 election
into Russian presidency and quit the Communist Party. Yeltsin successfully
led opposition to the August 1991 anti-Gorbachev coup and emerged with
even more grassroots support. President Gorbachev's December resignation
sealed the U.S.S.R.'s dissolution and Yeltsin assumed his role as the
first popularly elected leader in Russian history.

“It is especially important to encourage unorthodox thinking when the
situation is critical,” spoke Yeltsin, and this flexible attitude
contributed to his ability to deal with Russia's transformation to open
economy, private enterprise and democratic, multiparty rule.

Clashes with conservative parliament led Yeltsin to suppress it in
September 1993, and his proposed Constitution was ratified in December
1993. Yeltsin's popularity continued unabated until the secession war with
Chechnya, which, combined with anti-reform opponents slowly being elected
into office, eroded Yeltsin's popularity. During this time he improved
relations with Western powers, although widespread economic difficulties
further flagged the president. Yeltsin suffered a heart attack in June of
1996. In a characteristic comeback, he managed to win re-election to the
Russian presidency in July. Bypassing obsolescence yet again, Yeltsin
recovered and went on to overhaul his cabinet by the spring of 1997.

The global economic epidemic spread to Russia when its currency began
to plummet in Nov. 1997, finally collapsing the following year. In Aug.
1998, the ruble was devalued and by Aug. 25 had taken its worst fall in
four years. In a futile attempt to stem the tide, President Boris Yeltsin
dismissed his entire government twice over the course of 1998, and by the
end of the year was facing an impeachment vote. In December 1999, Yeltsin
announced his resignation and largely withdrew from public life, naming as
his preferred successor current president Vladimir Putin. Yeltsin died in
April 2007 from heart failure at 76.